


you amidst starlight

by violetgu (woncarnation)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Abstract, Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, First Meetings, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Wishes, starmates?, they are literal stars, this is whimsical and basically me yearning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:21:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27330376
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/woncarnation/pseuds/violetgu
Summary: They loved in the stars, Earth brings them together, and everything in between? A plethora of their stories and poems, bound by a single wish.
Relationships: Jeon Wonwoo/Kim Mingyu
Comments: 7
Kudos: 22





	you amidst starlight

**Author's Note:**

> This is me attempting to grasp an idea that came to me at 3 am on a Monday night. Something a bit experimental, maybe a little whimsical, but it's something, nonetheless. Put on your wishing hat and enjoy the journey to space (and Earth)!

What are stars made of?

Space dust, love, hope, dreams—it doesn’t seem like something everyone can agree upon. 

Wonwoo might be able to provide an answer, if one day the universe decides to gift him with a voice to answer all these questions. Questions thrown when humans look up, gaze into the night sky and finds Wonwoo, a lone star burning bright in the West, discovered one night in the peak of summer.

_“Look at that.”_

A finger points above, shadowing over a mesmerized smile, eyes twinkling underneath the night sky. Beside her stands another person, small hands enclosed in her unoccupied one.

Countless cicadas buzz around in the night, the chorus of their songs traveling up to Wonwoo along with the whispers of a mother and a child. 

_“He’s so bright. I’ve always wondered what he’s made of._ ”

He might be able to provide an answer, someday. The things that birthed him into existence are unclear. It has been years, and Wonwoo has forgotten amongst the countless whispers, the endless hours of staring into the vast expanse of space, wondering if one day, he’ll have a chance to enunciate his words to someone.

_“Can’t we just go and ask, Mom?”_

A smile as she hoists her son up for him to sit on her shoulders. _“Why don’t you make a wish? I know Wonwoo will grant it for you.”_

Flares of benign heat envelopes Wonwoo at the mention of his name, the very same one he received years ago, on the same hill, uttered by the very same person. He was her little secret, now shared with her son.

_“I wish I could make you happy forever!”_

Wonwoo smiles despite himself. Gracing his feet on the soft grass down on Earth has always been something he looked forward to. It’s only possible with a wish, and so he treasures it, does everything in his capabilities to let it become reality.

As the first light of day reflects on the remaining mist of early morning, Wonwoo returns to the sky, the feeling of loss immediate.

Time passes by him as wind does a person. Merely a fleeting caress; it will escape him if he pays it no attention. But Wonwoo tries to every time someone wishes upon him. The benevolent magic behind those words gift him with an opportunity to escape the jarring emptiness of space—who is he to deny them of these wishes? 

Through thousands of sunrises and sunsets, the child’s wish stays close to his heart and Wonwoo watches it remain until the last day it could exist. Another wish granted, Wonwoo bids them goodbye.

Sadness weighs down on Wonwoo as he hears quiet sniffles from down below. He peaks, and finds a curled figure on the hill, clenched fingers trembling in the autumn wind. The young woman rubs at her eyes before looking up. Tears and sorrow writhe on her face, and yet she affords a smile towards Wonwoo.

_“I wonder if you’re also lonely up there.”_

His hearing tickles with the inquiry. Wonwoo’s heard about loneliness before; the tears it carry; the hollowness so unbearable that people would turn to the stars above for company. All the glimmer around Wonwoo doesn’t shine enough to cover the dullness growing inside him as of late. So yes, Wonwoo is lonely, but he doesn’t have anyone to turn to. He understands this _loneliness_ , and whenever he hears a silent plea for company, he would comply. Just a tiny bit of a push, a tiny bit brighter, and Wonwoo sends off an amiable sign.

“I’m here,” he would say, and the message delivers in a glint. The one you see when you stare at a star long enough.

Wonwoo is alone, but he would never let anyone be alone.

_“It’s a dream I had last night,”_ someone whispers, the softness of his voice hampered by the soft fabric of his lover’s jacket. Yet it flows to Wonwoo’s ears with unhindered clarity. _“You and I, away from this city, taking nothing but each other’s company.”_

 _“It’s a dream, all right.”_ Rustles of fabric as they settle into a more comfortable position above the swaying grass of Summer. _“Seokmin, do you think Wonwoo will listen to our dreams?”_

Wonwoo doesn’t dream—at least, he thinks he doesn’t. The world blurs past him fast enough that something as incorporeal as a dream eludes him. His heart hasn’t the room for dreams, sometimes he can’t tell whether its filled with his own selfish ones or the wishes of others he kept for selfless reasons.

Seokmin shakes his head. _“I don’t know. My dad says he listens to wishes, though. I don’t exactly know the difference either. Aren’t dreams like, wishes our hearts make when we’re asleep?”_

A bout of laughter erupts. _“I love you.”_

The question, although said as a passing joke, has Wonwoo stilling as he contemplates. No one ever hears him, ever responds to them the way he does for everyone else—but Wonwoo does wish. They almost always escape his notice, his own ones, lost along the voices that echo within him.

_“Shut up! Go and make a wish already, so I could blame the great Yoon Jeonghan if our wish ever fails.”_

_“Then, I wish we’ll stay together for a long time.”_

The wish ends with a hug, a brief kiss, and Wonwoo feels his warmth seeping off of him into space.

“Good company is hard to find,” Wonwoo whispers even when it falls into deaf ears. “Keep him close.”

Wonwoo grants their wish, feels the familiar pull of gravity as he plummets down towards Earth. The familiar feel of soil beneath his feet greets him. When he chances a glance above, Wonwoo sees his celestial body glow in greeting; mesmerizing, yet so alone even amidst the endless glimmer of the starry sky.

Another drift of laughter has Wonwoo glancing at the couple. They can’t see him, but he bathes them with the glow of his skin, let it accompany them until they leave him alone on the hill. Their wish echoes in Wonwoo’s mind even when he’s unable to see them anymore. _Together forever_.

Despite the ringing of his ears, Wonwoo takes a deep breath. He glances around, trees and grass singing back to him, the wind fleeting pass him in a soft chime of soprano. In the very least, Earth gives him company in the loneliness.

The sunrise will take him away from this reprieve, and so he intends to make the most of his time. As he always does. Wonwoo walks down the mound, stops only when he’s at the edge of the lake to crouch down. His reflection almost blinds him. Ripples form from the very tips of his fingers where they meet the water, small at first, but they weave together into something bigger, blurring Wonwoo’s reflection in an intricate dance. When the waters calms, his glow is gone, and Wonwoo appears nothing out of the ordinary.

Any other instance and this would’ve placated Wonwoo’s roving heart; the thought of him being as mundane as anything else. This time, it does nothing. Barely a beat in his chest, the usual joy fails to leave an indent in his heart.

And for the first time, Wonwoo wishes he could dream. Reach for the stars and hope that they would grant his wish.

The warm, golden glow of the early sunrise sends Wonwoo back into space.

Wonwoo jerks awake from a dream, the space around him buoyant to his sudden movement. He clutches his chest, calms his racing heart and blinks.

There’s no one near him. Nothing has changed, the nearest stars still miles away from him.

“No.” A faint whimper escapes him, lost in the darkness.

Taking his eyes away from his hill on Earth and letting his eyes rest closed causes him to dream, Wonwoo finds. It isn’t pleasant, but it stirs something in him, something foreign and yet familiar at the same time. A heat accompanies it, but it’s different from the one he gets from the beck and call for his name.

It does not settle down when he tries to grant it, because Wonwoo can’t, no matter how much he tries. It refuses to diminish, instead growing until the ache nearly consumes Wonwoo as a whole.

Wonwoo feels a wetness trailing down his cheeks, unprompted. He understands, now, the desperation that often times accompany a wish. It’s the unbearable longing for something just out of reach, the frustration of knowing something being so close yet so, so far, that births the magic behind wishes. And the stars has always been the one who turns the malevolent into benevolent.

Perhaps, it’s something of little importance to most, but to those who need it, Wonwoo _will_ be there. In this moment in time, Wonwoo needs someone to be there for him.

He glances around, the vastness of space obscuring his hope for help. His voice sputters out into nothingness before it has a chance to even be. He’s alone. 

Wonwoo curls into himself, lets the coldness of space painfully seep into him to try and reduce the blooming heat.

A kaleidoscope of dusty colors swirling around awakes Wonwoo from his slumber. He gazes to his right and lays witness to a whirlwind of heat. It does not burn him, beckons him closer instead.

The birth of a star is a fascinating event to observe. Much more when you’re the first to witness it, and has the privilege of seeing it up close. 

Wonwoo almost forgets his previous predicament, or rather, it simply doesn’t exist anymore. No unbearable heat encroaches him, as though it has moved unto someone else right in front of him. Turning malevolence into benevolence. The implications lay heavy on him, but Wonwoo refuses to let it consume him. Not when the splay of colors in front of him dances with such captivating grace. Somehow, familiarity hugs Wonwoo’s being.

A single tug, and Wonwoo sees rather than feels a part of him travel across the distance. It approaches the new star, closer, closer, _closer—_ and Wonwoo’s gone.

It’s the first time he blinks his eyes open on Earth with a gasp. Unexpectedness and surprise moves Wonwoo to look around, feels himself tethering to his own existence. The howl of the wind on his hill is unchanging, the trees still swaying and the lake still a mirror of the night sky.

And yet it isn’t Wonwoo reflecting light on the water. 

A figure, on both his hands and knees, glow much brighter than anything Wonwoo’s ever seen, takes his place instead. From the little distance between them, Wonwoo watches as his eyes widen, almost imperceptible.

Without much thought, his legs carry him down the hill and before long, Wonwoo’s there. The slight rustle of grass notifies the stranger of Wonwoo’s presence.

There’s no suspicion nor caution in his gaze, only curiosity bouncing between the lights in his eyes. Wonwoo recognizes the look with a newfound apprehension.

His mouth opens, heart in his throat. “Who…who are you?”

The question fills the sudden muteness of their surrounding. But it’s unnecessary, for Wonwoo finds there’s something else beside his heartbeat stuck on his tongue. It roots itself in place, latches itself on the forefront of Wonwoo’s mind as if it has existed before this very second. A name—

“Mingyu.”

Their voices tangle together, seamless.

Another bout of silence befalls them, and although Wonwoo has always wanted his words to be heard, he can’t settle on a thing to say. Every single thought retracts itself as fast it was formed. 

“Who are you?” Mingyu asks back, now standing on his two feet.

He’s taller, not by much, but Wonwoo can’t help the slight parting of his mouth. “I’m Wonwoo,” he manages.

“Wonwoo,” Mingyu echoes, soft, before he repeats it again, stronger. “ _Wonwoo.”_

The wave of warmth of Mingyu’s smile reaches Wonwoo without any hindrance. Wonwoo almost stumbles, not used to warmth other than his own. 

Unsure, Wonwoo allows himself to sit on the grass, glow diminishing to form his favorite jacket and trousers. He pats the spot next to him as an invite.

For a moment, Mingyu blinks in astonishment, but he’s quick on his feet. He does the same with an ease that surprises Wonwoo. Mingyu looks nothing out of the ordinary, and so does he. 

The beginning of spring paints the world in such an odd, refreshing way. Wonwoo has always thought of it as a season for new beginnings, for all things new. And it proves itself in the form of Mingyu sitting besides him.

Having Mingyu here with him is, without a doubt, new. He expects awkwardness, a fumble of nervous words between them, but there’s none of that. The mum air between them is amicable instead, as though they’ve always had this between them. As though _them_ is something that has existed even before this.

“Wonwoo,” calls Mingyu, and Wonwoo hums. “Do you know what I am?”

The answer is clear to Wonwoo, more so than the moon hanging above them. _You’re my wish_ , he wants to say, for he knows it’s true. 

“You’re a star,” he goes with instead, waiting for Mingyu’s response.

Mingyu seems to know what Wonwoo means when he looks up, eyes now displaying the plethora of stars in the sky instead of his own glow. Beautiful—he’s beautiful.

“A star, huh?” Mingyu brings his hands together around his legs, rocks his body back and forth akin to a clueless child. “I know what stars are, but…why— _how_ am I here?”

Nothing comes out of Wonwoo to that, and he lets Mingyu continue with his words.

“I don’t know how to feel, and yet I also _know_ how to feel, how to think. It’s weird and I don’t like it. This is my first time seeing everything, but I know what everything is.”

Wonwoo blinks, gazes at Mingyu.

“I knew what to expect before I touched the water, how it will dance on my fingertips and contort my reflection on it—and it did. I knew the wind would sing when it passes the hill.”

The blade of grass Wonwoo’s fiddling with disintegrates soon enough, and he doesn’t have anything to distract himself from the question. He doesn’t know what to say, fears for what’s to come if he lets the weight on his chest go. “You’re born out of a wish, Mingyu. And a wish is a part of someone.”

Mingyu’s stare on him is filled with intensity. An inquiry that burns on in his furrowed brows, in the slight pout of his lips. “Do you know who wished for my existence?”

Wonwoo shakes his head, looks away, abashed. “I don’t.”

He doesn’t sound half convincing, but if Mingyu doubts the nature of Wonwoo’s answer, the younger pays it no mind.

It’s the first prickle of warmth on his skin that alerts him of his—their—approaching curfew. Wonwoo moves to stand, intends to reach out to Mingyu before being cut off.

“Our time is almost up, isn’t it?” Mingyu huffs, the laugh that follows next nothing but happy. “I’m sad, I wish we could stay longer.”

Of course he would say that, it’s exactly how Wonwoo has always felt about returning home. 

Mingyu takes Wonwoo’s extended hand, skin melting against each other and Wonwoo ignores the absence of friction between them. 

“You’ll get the chance to go here again.” There’s no we in his sentence, because Wonwoo doesn’t want to promise things he can’t fulfill.

But when the familiar tug returns him to the sky, he isn’t alone.

Perhaps it’s the recent nature of Mingyu’s existence that has him floating alone as he watches Wonwoo descend to Earth with every wish.

Their time together is limited to space, and even then they’re unable to converse. Wonwoo knows Mingyu’s list of questions had expanded during their time separated in space. Yet the distance of space hinders Wonwoo from indulging Mingyu, and, in a part, indulge himself from

It’s summer again on Wonwoo’s hill, and with the chirp of Cicadas come a familiar voice, buried somewhere distant in Wonwoo’s mind.

 _“Jeonghan,_ ” a pause, “ _Is that a new star besides Wonwoo?”_

Their footsteps come into a stop. _“Oh, you’re right. I don’t think I’ve seen one that close to him before.”_

_“It seems like it’s not only us that’s been getting company. Mom’s always said stars are lonely, I’m glad he has a friend now.”_

_“A friend?”_ A sound of someone being shoved, before laughter drifts from the two of them.

Wonwoo chances a glance at Mingyu to find him listening to the conversation alongside him. When he averts his gaze to meet Wonwoo’s, the world almost spins. Mingyu’s warmth has always reached him, but being _seen_ like this has always causes Wonwoo to burst away into nothingness. He isn’t alone anymore. Even when they’re apart.

_“You know what, I wish they’d stay together. When they’re together, we’ll always be together.”_

_“Seokmin, you do know that stars can’t exactly move around, right?”_

The next bits of the conversation escapes Wonwoo, Earth welcoming him instead. Both Jeonghan and Seokmin isn’t of importance to him. They’ve wished before, and Wonwoo doesn’t intend to let it give way anytime soon. Instead, his whole being points towards Mingyu.

Mingyu, who’s standing at the edge of the lake with an almost expectant smile. Mingyu, who moves to meet Wonwoo in the middle when Wonwoo rushes to him. Mingyu, who wounds his arms around Wonwoo in an embrace.

There’s no surprise when their shines disperse to make way for their hug. 

“Sorry, I just felt the need to do that.”

“Don’t be,” Wonwoo dismisses, leading Mingyu back to the edge of the water.

“It’s you, isn’t it?” Mingyu angles his body to fully face Wonwoo, letting their hands go. “It’s you who wished for me?”

Wonwoo doesn’t refute the idea, he doesn’t know when he’ll be able to meet Mingyu like this again. Pretending as though he has no idea seems like a waste of time. “What makes you think so?”

“Well, I’ve been watching people make wishes to you, and no star has been born so far.”

Laughter spills out of Wonwoo’s lips, the simple observation amusing. “Is that all?”

Shaking his head, Mingyu doesn’t let the smile drop from his face. “I feel like we are supposed to be us. And all the things I know about this—“ Mingyu gestures around him “—Earth, are all the things you tend to talk about when you’re down here.”

“You can hear me?” Asks Wonwoo, heat coloring his neck.

“Somehow.” Mingyu shrugs. “You talk to yourself a lot when you’re down here.”

Wonwoo crouches down, hides his face in his hands. The heat on his face warms his hands. “I can’t believe this.”

“I think it’s cute.”

An unfinished cough, something more like a strangled whimper, escapes him. “Don’t say things like that.”

Wonwoo feels Mingyu lower himself beside him. “It’s true, though. And don’t worry, you have me to talk to now, don’t you? I like listening to you talk.”

 _“_ Mingyu,” Wonwoo sighs in defeat. He braves himself to look at Mingyu. “You really can’t say things like that.” His attempt at a scolding gets him a cheeky grin, Mingyu finding his predicament amusing.

“See? It feels like I just know you, I don’t need anything else to know that, well, we’re us?”

“It’s the same for me,” Wonwoo admits, even when he doesn’t fully understand it, either.

They settled into a better position, shoulders brushing against each other. What Wonwoo doesn’t admit is that he likes listening to Mingyu talk, too. His unabashed joy almost makes the impending sunrise bearable. And Mingyu’s as warm as the sun, anyway, in a more comforting way.

The sun signals an end to their time together, but Mingyu’s warmth is a promise of meeting again.

It never gets boring, traveling down to Earth with Mingyu. The younger pushes Wonwoo to places he’s never been before. It’s not only the lake anymore; it’s the steady mountains, the adventurous waves of the sea, the calming cadence of forests.

Wonwoo has always been afraid of getting lost, no matter how irrational the fear is. Yet having Mingyu on all these escapades has Wonwoo forgetting it all together. Anywhere with Mingyu feels like where he’s supposed to be

Somehow, someway, every wish that comes after Seokmin’s have always been directed at the both of them. It’s as though the universe 

“Don’t you think it’s funny that people come to us for wishes, instead of only one of us? And it’s always the same thing too.” Wonwoo asks, head in the crook of Mingyu’s neck.

“Not really,” Mingyu says, the bustle of the city at night almost drowning his voice. “I mean, we are sort of a package.”

Wonwoo detaches himself from Mingyu, scooting away on the bench to create some distance. “We’re going to be together for a long time, Mingyu. I’m afraid you’ll get tired of me.”

It’s not even a concern for Mingyu, it seems, the rise of his eyebrows painting Wonwoo as silly. “I don’t think I can even if I wanted to, and it’s probably the same for you.”

“You’re right.” Moving back towards Mingyu, Wonwoo loops his arms around Mingyu’s. The worst of winter does next to nothing to Mingyu’s celestial self. “I imagine it would be boring at times.”

Their fingers entangle themselves without needed effort, motion as familiar as the twinkle of the stars above.

“We can always go explore places on our own. We’ll always return to each other.” Mingyu squeezes Wonwoo’s hand in his, thumbs rubbing circles. “And of course, we can schedule fights every few years. That would be fun.”

“I can’t believe you sometimes.”

Then, the winter festivities of the market occupy the silence for them. They almost feel like ordinary people this way, sitting on a bench in a nameless park, watching the snow sway with the wind before finding home on multiple surfaces.

“Oh, actually there’s something I do find funny,” Mingyu says, sudden.

“What is it?”

“People wishing for us to be together.” One of his shoulders goes up in a shrug. “We are already together.”

Wonwoo smiles beneath the collar of his jacket. “We are.”

His feet is buried deep in the sand, Mingyu’s sounds of amusement drifting from somewhere on his left. The beach turns to be Mingyu’s favorite place to visit during their time here. It must be both the calming crashes of the waves on shore and the winds ruffling every single thing it can touch. The unobscured view of the stars above is another bonus.

Wonwoo watches as Mingyu returns from somewhere between the huge rocks on the beach, the sleeves of his shirt wet and littered with sand. It’s always been indescribable, this feeling sprawling in his chest. It’s always been there, a constant, never fading with time. Yet tonight, Wonwoo wants to give a four letter name for it. He calls Mingyu. 

A smile on his face, Mingyu jogs right until he’s in front of Wonwoo, hands immediately brushing the stray hair on Wonwoo’s face, byproduct of the unrelenting wind.

“Mingyu,” he calls again, stopping the younger from his ministration. “I’ve loved you even before you were here. I do love you, too, now.”

“I know.” Mingyu beams. “I know because I loved you even before I was here, as well.”

“It doesn’t make sense.”

“It doesn’t have to.”

What are stars made of?

Space dust, _love_ , hope, dreams, wishes—it doesn’t seem like something everyone can agree upon. But Wonwoo knows the answer.

He might be able to provide an answer, one day, but no words would suffice to tell the tale of him and Mingyu.

It’s all of those things. A star can be made of anything, but Mingyu—Mingyu is Wonwoo’s wish, Wonwoo’s hope, Wonwoo’s love.

Space separates the two of them for most of their lives. But when the strength of a wish brings them together on Earth, they would love. They would love so brightly that the luster carries them back to space, anchoring them to one another without the intention of being separated.

And Wonwoo knows, that even amidst the endless starlight of the night sky, Mingyu will always be there. They will always be them. 

**Author's Note:**

> So, maybe just a little more abstract than it should be. I just wanted to get this out there on this very special day! This day coincidentally revolves around wishes and dreams and how could I not let myself indulge in this fic. It was short but I hope you enjoyed this (at least to some extent). And of course, thank you for reading !!
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/9yuwoo) | [curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/woncarnation)


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